South Africa’s fifth mobile operator, Rain, has launched “unlimited 4G for phones”, offering uncapped on-device data for R379/month on a month-to-month contract.

The new plan, according to the company’s website, won’t allow users to create a Wi-Fi hotspot to share the unlimited data with other users or to connect a PC or tablet.

They also won’t be able to stream video at resolutions above 360p, meaning high-definition Netflix, Showmax and YouTube streams won’t be possible (which is probably less of an issue on a smartphone screen than on a television or computer).

The new plan comes on top of the company’s R250/month 4G-on-any-device plan that provides unlimited off-peak data for 19 hours a day, also on a month-to-month contract. Users pay R50/GB during the evening peak of 6pm to 11pm.

Rain has been in the headlines this week, first after it said on Tuesday that its CEO, Willem Roos, would step down in March, with chief strategy officer Brandon Leigh taking the reins.

Then, on Wednesday, Telkom said it had approached the Competition Tribunal, seeking to have the spectrum arrangements between Vodacom and Rain declared a merger and therefore notifiable in terms of the Competition Act.  — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media